Travel Tramp News Updates

From ancient mosaic maps to crumbling Byzantine ruins, discover the best things to do in Madaba, Jordan’s surprising Christian city. Located some 30 kilometres south-west of Amman, the Jordanian capital, Madaba is one of the Middle East’s most intriguing cities. Better known as the ‘City of Mosaics’ (for its historic Byzantine… Read more »

Discover the King’s Highway, an ancient trade route which could be the world’s oldest continuously used road. Here’s what happened when I road tripped its surviving fragments in modern-day Jordan! The King’s Highway is one of the oldest continuously used roads in the world. For more than 5,000 years, it… Read more »

Discover the story of the Hejaz Railway, an audacious Ottoman-era plan to unite the Middle East, and how it could soon be resurrected. The Hejaz Railway was the most ambitious engineering project the Ottoman Empire ever embarked on. Intended to link Constantinople—modern-day Istanbul—to the holy city of Mecca, in what’s… Read more »

Discover the complex history of Amman, as I embark on a foodie tour of the Jordanian capital with Omar from 3J Expeditions. Welcome to Amman, Jordan, a city where history, identity, politics and cuisine intertwine like no other city I’ve visited in the world. I recently returned from a two-week… Read more »

Discover the curious case of Bir Tawil, a trapezoid of land in the Nubian Desert between Egypt and Sudan that could be the world’s last ‘Terra Nullius’. The Egyptian-Sudanese border is a geopolitical anomaly, filled with territorial disputes, shifting allegiances, and historical complexity. Among its oddities, one place stands out:… Read more »

Discover the unusual case of Puntland, a Somalian breakaway territory that hit the headlines thanks to none other than Donald Trump (who else?). The world is filled with contested borders, breakaway states and geopolitical oddities. For those of you intrigued by international politics, you’ll be happy to hear that this… Read more »

From Babylonian boundary stones to the extensive engineering works of the Roman Empire; here are 10 ancient borders that shaped the world. Borders are a constant in human history. The human story is one of boundaries. Of division. Of a search for definition and identity. Modern borders between nation-states might… Read more »

Join my quest to understand the world through its borders and boundaries. Sign up for my brand new BORDERLINES Newsletter and follow the journey. NEWSLETTER SIGN UP SUBSTACK SIGNUP Welcome to Borderlines! This blog, Travel Tramp, is now almost ten years old. A decade ago, I founded this website as… Read more »

The Path of the Gods is one of Italy’s most renowned hiking trails, offering an unparalleled way to escape the crowds along the busy Amalfi Coast. Winding through mountains and along clifftops, the trail is steeped in natural beauty and packed with history. Traverse this historic path and you’ll be… Read more »

From Abbasid souqs and holy Shia shrines to the Iraq Museum and riverfront restaurants; here are the best things to do in Baghdad, Iraq. “I have seen the greatest of cities that are known for their perfection and refinement, in the lands of Syria and the Greeks and other countries, but I have never… Read more »